The color red
by Farmeeli
Summary: Red. It's all her mind can process right now. It's a simple thing, really, the color red. This red, though, is unique. It's a deep, rich, red, like a tree in mid-fall. It's sticky and thick, and she's covered in it. She bluntly notices the fact that it's leaking between her hands, which are on her stomach. It pools around a metal object on the ground. The bolt gun.


Red. It's all her mind can process right now. It's a simple thing, really, the color red. This red, though, is unique. It's a deep, rich, red, like a tree in mid-fall. It's also sticky, she notices. It's sticky and thick, and she's covered in it. Practically drenched in it. She bluntly notices the fact that it's leaking between her hands, which are on her stomach. It drips through the cracks of her fingers. It pools onto the floor, surrounding the metal object on the floor. The bolt gun. But all she can think is the color red.

She thinks about it until she hears a voice calling her name. At least she thinks it's her name. She can't really tell currently. All she can think about is what a pretty red this is. Suddenly there's a hand cupping her face, a voice trying to call her back from whatever world she's in. Arms tighten around her, then release quickly as their owner notices what's wrong.

'Oh my god, Audrey. Oh my god.' The voice practically chokes, as if the words hurt to say. They've finally notice she got a hole in her chest. It's not too big, to be honest. But it's big enough to worry. The blood is the real problem thought. It's honestly a miracle she's still conscious. The voice says soothing words to her, but no matter how hard she tries, she can't make them out. It's such a pretty red.

The arms pick her up gently from where she lay on the floor and gather up. Suddenly, a new thought hits her. She's in shock. But why? Why can she only think of red? Thoughts start to emerge. The bolt gun. Tommy. Yes, that's it. Tommy. He was taking her to the Grey Gull from the airport. She had gotten back from Colorado. And he tried to kill her. Yes, that's what happened. He had walked up to the apartment with her, and then he had, in a matter of speaking, shot her with the bolt gun.

It was just like before. Just like when he kidnapped her and held her under the Inn, trying to beat the information out of her with the help of that dead guard member. This time was different. Maybe it was the fact that he had come to know her better, or the fact that she was struggling, or that he had a change of heart. But he didn't kill her. Well, not right away at least. The wound she was suffering from right now could easily kill her, but he didn't kill her right away.

Now that she thinks about it, it's probably because he wanted her to suffer. That's why he didn't bolt her in the skull. No, instead he hit the sternum. Not too close to her heart, but not so far away either. It was in the right place to cause serious damage and serious concern. Maybe this was a sort of message. A message in red.

Audrey didn't realize she had passed out until she opened her eyes. As soon as she was fully conscious, the pain came in waves. It was shocking pain, like a thousand electrical currents were passing through her body. She groaned and clenched her fists, which were quickly covered by a pair of warm hands. She blinked and focused her eyes to the face of Nathan. She shifted her head to see two other friendly faces, which belonged to Duke and Claire. One thing the three of them did share was that each was etched with worry.

'Nathan.' Audrey mumbled, 'You found me. Was getting a little worried, to be honest.'

'Oh my god, Audrey. You're finally awake. And cracking jokes, for that matter.' He smiled, kissing her forehead.

'What happened Nathan? How did you-'A wave of pain racked her body, causing her to clench her teeth and rock forward. He placed a hand on her shoulder, carefully lowering her back onto the pillows. His hand found hers and took it, reassuring her.

'How did you find me?' She finished, gripping his hand tighter.

And so he told his story. They realized Tommy was the bolt gun killer when the incident of Noelle, the girl who could bring back the dead, happened. It was the only possible explanation. It had to be Tommy. They sent out an APB and raced over to the Grey Gull, which was where Tommy was supposed to drop Audrey off. They had found her laying in a pool of blood, clutching her wound, no sign of Tommy anywhere. They took her to the hospital, where they operated on a slightly punctured lung.

'At first we were really worried.' Nathan pauses and frowns, his eyebrows creasing. His voice shook a little as he started his next sentence. 'You were conscious, but… well, it didn't look good, Audrey. They say you've recovered pretty well so far, but these type of injures are unusual. And Audrey, the rate you healed at… it doesn't make sense. It was too quick.'

Audrey squeezed his hand again as a ripple of pain cursed through her that was so bad it darkened her vision.

'The-the flashbacks.' Audrey groaned through clenched teeth. 'Do you think the memories combined with the closeness of the meteor storm could be restoring me back to the same age I always-' She groaned again, biting her lip. 'The same age I always am?'

'It would make sense.' Claire reasoned, stepping into the conversation. 'Whatever this is, it's not normal. It could be your body is getting ready to harness new memories again. But the clash between new memories and old ones…. I don't know if that will turn out well,' she finished, patting Audrey's arm.

'Gee, thanks for the pep-talk, Doc. You're one big ray of sunshine, aren't you?' She replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. 'Either way, it hurts like hell. It feels like my body is being ripped to shreds.'

At this, Duke steps forward from the background, a guilty expression on his face. 'Audrey, I'm sorry. I should've been there. I should've gone to Colorado with you. I should've-'

'No. No. Don't you dare blame this on yourself, Duke. This is not your fault.' Her voice lowers at the end of it, and he knows she is referring to other things as well.

'Audrey, one more thing. We found a bag in your apartment…It had James Cogan's birth certificate in it. Audrey, I…' He handed it to her, and she traced her finger over the name written at the bottom. _Sarah._ When she reached the end of the name, her finger slipped down.

'Audrey? Audrey, you all right?'

The world turned black as the paper fell to the bed and Lucy's memories took hold of Audrey's mind.

'_He's beautiful.'_

'_I know. Our baby boy.'_

'_What are you going to name him?'_

_Sarah looks to the man standing above her and smiles._

'_James. His name is James.'_

'Audrey? Audrey, you back?' Her eyelids flutter open, staring straight into Claire's face.

'Another blackout, I'm assuming.'

'You assumed right.' Audrey sighed, rubbing her temples. This all she needed right now. God, her whole body _hurt._ Every bit of it screamed in agony with the slightest movement. Her eyes scanned the room for Nathan, and she found him sleeping in a chair beside the bed. Duke was in the one next to him, head resting on his shoulder. Audrey wasn't sure to laugh or cry.

'Here.' Claire handed Audrey a tissue, which she used to wipe the blood dripping from her nose.

'How long was I out?'

'Um…' Claire stuttered awkwardly. 'It's been about three hours.'

'Three hours!?' Audrey exclaimed. 'Three hours?! It only felt like a few seconds. Oh, that is not good. You know what this means, don't you?'

'I do,' Claire said grimly. 'It means it's getting much, much worse.'


End file.
